2nd Perl 6 Microgrant - Phil Crow / Java-Perl6 dec

We're pleased to announce that we've selected Phil Crow as the
recipient of the second Perl 6 microgrant. Phil is the hacker behind
the Java::Swing module which allows Perl programmers to put a Java
Swing GUI on their application without writing any Java and he'll be
using this knowledge to convert Java declarations to Perl 6. You can
find details of the project he's planning in the text of his grant
application:

Tim Bunce has suggested that it would be nice to have a general
purpose declaration translator from Java to Perl. In particular, he
is interested in leveraging this tool to create a JDBC API for Perl 6
from the Java JDBC classes and interfaces. The result would then
provide a strong foundation for the Perl 6 DBI.

I propose to write that translator. It would have two pieces:

One would use the Java deparser (part of its standard development
kit) to turn Java classes or interfaces into an internal structure

The other half would turn that structure into valid Perl 6. Note that it would
only translate class, interface, and method declarations, not code.

Success for this project will be a working translator that generates method
declarations in Perl 6 from compiled Java .class files. While all cases
might not be covered, at least the final product should not die when faced
with the unexpected. The generated files will be tested using the then current
version of Pugs.

This project is new and has only recently been discussed in response to the
call for proposals. I'm sure I will have questions to direct to various
Perl 6 mailing lists as the project progresses.

This microgrant is supported by additional sponsorship from Tim Bunce / DBI.

Please join us in wishing him the best of luck with his project. We're
really looking forward to seeing the results of this work.If you're
interested in submitting a Perl 6 microgrant proposal, you can find
details here.